Holiday Vignettes

We’re continuing our Vignette holiday tradition of sharing holiday cheer and stories. Feel freeto share or follow along with our #HolidayVignettes tag or add your comments below. So we asked our team hereat Vignette to spend some time pondering the holidays and how to get out of them relatively unscathed. What we found included a nod to self-medication, an earnest desire to re-connect with loved ones, and, of course, some stuff about snow. We live in Portland, so snow is magical for us. It’s like rain, but, you know, frozen. Ho, ho, ho.

Anyway, here’s what our team had to say. I hope you will see that beneath our smart-Alec veneer, we are all holiday heart. Merry Everything!

#1 How do you survive the holidays?

“I don’t survive, I thrive in the holidays. Growing up my family always embraced the festivities with relish.” — Carolyn Richardson

“Makers Mark, egg nog, cookies. Repeat. And snow, gotta play in the snow.” — Mike Lepis

“By realizing that none of it is mandatory – at the beginning of the holiday season, I make a list of what I really want to do vs the things I feel like I “should do”. Most of the “want-to-do”s get done, and a few of the “should-do”s get done as well.” — Alison Clifford

“I love looking forward to the holidays as it always brings out the best in my family and the people I’m surrounded by. I’m alsoalways reminded how amazing my wife is as she takes on so much for us to make sure everyone gets what they want and enjoys the positive holiday feeling.” — Gregg Apirian

“Our son Hudson is almost three and this is the first year he really “gets” christmas. Seeing how excited he is about Santa and presents makes it all worth it.” — Shona Lepis

#2 What’s your favorite family tradition?

“Having the ‘A Christmas Story’ movie marathon on in the background for 24 hours. Thanks TBS.” — Carolyn Richardson

“Being a young dad and an old husband we are creating our own traditions right now. I put up the Christmas lights on a tall ladder and didn’t kill myself so I think that will be repeated. Also, I proposed to my wife in our backyard in the snow on Christmas Eve a few years back so that is always a special day. She said yes, by the way.” — Mike Lepis

“Come Christmas morning, my brothers and I quickly regress to children. My dad will make us wait while he cooks a big breakfast and then make coffee before finally letting us race to the tree. Then we watch movies and cook a big Greek dinner. As we’ve gotten older we now partake in eggnog and bourbon all day long.” — Kristina Morris

“Oplatek. It’s a Polish tradition and a great way to really connect for a minute with the people you don’t see as often, and everyone else, too. Not to be confused with Uprocking.” — Dave Stawinski

#3 Your holiday indulgences?

“Sleeping in, going into Manhattan (5th Avenue) to see the tree at Roc Center and all the extraordinary decorations. It’s absolutely amazing here at this time of year.” — Connie Cunningham

“While shopping for Christmas presents, I will definitely buy myself a gift or two along the way!” — Carolyn Domme

“Refusing to wear anything except pajamas for days on end.” — Carolyn Richardson